April the Giraffe gives birth to a new baby, park looking for a name

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – April, the world-famous mother giraffe, gave birth to her fifth calf Saturday.

The giraffe gave birth just after 12:40 p.m. Saturday as Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, live-streamed video of the event on social media when April went into labor around 11 a.m.

The calf is April’s second since arriving at Animal Adventure Park in 2015. Her fourth pregnancy overall, in 2017, sparked worldwide frenzy and shined a spotlight on the Harpursville park as many waited for one of April’s bouncing babies to enter the world.

Calf Tajiri was born on site at the park on April 15, 2017 with over a million people watching the live birth.

Animal Adventure Park announced April was pregnant again in July 2018.

When this latest pregnancy was confirmed, April’s due date was merely “spring 2019,” but the park was able to make a more precise guess later in the year, expecting the giraffe to give birth sometime in March.

Fans were once again able to follow April’s progress throughout her pregnancy on social media, and 301,550 tuned in to watch the birth live on YouTube.

Keepers had been noting signs the giraffe was nearing labor as early as Feb. 23.

Now that the calf has arrived, the park’s attention turns to finding a name.

Tajiri’s name was picked by former giraffe keeper Allysa Swilley, after “Keeper’s Choice” drew the most votes in a 2017 naming contest. Swilley chose the name Tajiri because she said it meant “hope” and “confidence” in Swahili.

The name of Tajiri’s new companion, Johari, which the park said is Swahili for Jewel, was also chosen through an online contest.

Read more at usatoday.com.